Seafood export up 15% in first 7 months
Vietnam reaped nearly US$2 billion from exporting seafood in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 14.6%.

In July alone, the country earned 330 million dollars from selling overseas the products, including frozen shrimp, catfish and octopus, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers on August 2.

Vietnam is boosting seafood export to traditional markets such as China, the United States, the European Union, Japan and South Korea, and some new ones like the Middle East, East Europe, Africa and South America.

The country is also focusing on increasing quality of the products, intensifying their trade promotion, and enhancing its capacity of forecasting seafood prices and export demand, said the association.

Vietnam, which earned nearly US$3.4 billion from exporting different kinds of seafood in 2006, up 23.1% against 2005, has targeted an annual seafood export growth of over 9% in the 2006-2010 period. Xinhua